Weaver's Sons
by Namazukage
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey infiltrate a group in the U.S. that possesses alien technology.
1. Rituals

**Weaver's Sons**

_Chapter 1: Rituals_

The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey exited the TARDIS.

"Oregon license plates," Mickey noted.

They walked around a small town, admiring a different lifestyle compared to what they were accustomed to in London. However, they started to feel uneasy by the silence and lack of people.

The Doctor noticed a coin on the ground. He picked it up and started sniffing it. "Minted in 2018, and smells brand new."

A shop door quickly opened and a woman appeared. "Hurry up and get in here!"

The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey looked at each other before obliging.

"Sorry, but we're just visiting," Rose began.

"Yeah, that much is obvious. England?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Rose answered. "Who are you? Where is everyone?"

"I'm Grace."

"Hello. I'm the Doctor. This is Rose and Mickey."

"The students of Empire Eternal have begun their march. It's best to not pay them attention."

"If we ignore them long enough, they'll stop these practices. We won't reinforce their behavior anymore," a man said. "I'm Isaac, Grace's husband."

"Nice to meet you, Isaac," the Doctor said.

"While we wait, can I interest you in some of our dessert selections?"

Mickey laughed.

"It's an opportunity. I'm taking advantage," Isaac admitted.

"Sorry, but we haven't exchanged our currency yet," Rose said while the Doctor looked out the window.

"Yeah, that's them," Grace said, knowing what the Doctor was about to ask.

Mickey and Rose joined the Doctor by the window.

Two lines of young men traversed the sidewalk with their heads down and hands on their chests. They wore green or yellow robes, alternating between them.

"Do you hear that? Are they humming?" Rose asked.

"Yup," Isaac answered.

"No, that's not humming," the Doctor corrected. "That's a biological flux regulator. I can't tell who's holding it."

"What does that do?" Rose asked.

"Transfers life energy," the Doctor answered.

"That sounds like serious business," Isaac commented.

"That sounds crazy," said Grace.

"Yup, that's us," the Doctor replied. "We'll just go and . . . be crazy out there."

"She's very skeptical. You don't need to listen to her," Isaac said. "She refuses to believe that I saw the headmaster times two. Why couldn't identical twins be running the place?"

"When you're sneaking around that place, you see things!"

"They've passed. It's fine now, right?" Mickey asked, eager to leave.

Isaac nodded.

The Doctor and Rose put the backs of their right hands to their foreheads and waved while maintaining the creepiest smile they could give.

"They aren't actually crazy," Mickey tried to clarify before sighing. "Never mind. Thanks," he said before joining the Doctor and Rose outside.

"So that life transfer machine isn't normal for Earth at this time?" Rose asked. "They didn't react like it was normal."

"It's not. We need to find a way into that school."

The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey followed the marching students at a distance until they reached a manor on a large estate.

The marching students passed by other students who were wearing casual clothes and resting on the front lawn. A few of the students looked at the visitors with curiosity, but most didn't seem to care.

"Security's not an issue, then," Rose realized.

A man in a suit approached the three. "Hello, there. I'm Max Weaver."

"Hello there, I'm the Doctor. This is Rose and Mickey."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

"All right, far be it for me to judge. How can I help you?"

"Oh, we're just here to learn more about what you do."

"I run Empire Eternal."

"He means Empire Eternal in general," Rose clarified.

"Right. Well, I'm glad EE is piquing interest across the Atlantic and we're always looking to add to our numbers."

"It looks like a nice relaxing place," Rose commented.

"It surely is," Max explained. "Our members adhere to a regiment that balances a good diet, exercise, and relaxation. We must be at our best physically and mentally in our service to the father. Come, I will give you a tour."

Max led the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey into the manor.

"This isn't a school," Mickey quietly noted.

"It's a cult," the Doctor finished for him.

"That'll be easier to infiltrate," Rose pointed out.

"This is one of our meditation rooms," Max explained as he opened the doors. He surprised three members who were lying down. "Sorry, we don't often do tours."

"How were these people selected?" the Doctor asked.

"Word of mouth."

"So what do you hope to accomplish?" Rose asked.

"What have you heard? It must have been something that piqued your interest if you came all the way here."

"A new lifestyle," the Doctor answered. "A healthier one, free from modern limits." He looked closely at Max, trying to determine if his assumptions were correct and if his ruse was successful.

"Well, that's our goal in a nutshell. Like I said, we maintain a good balance in our lives."

"You said service before, too," Mickey pointed out.

"Yes, and not just to the father. We all look out for each other, maintain the building and grounds, and get involved with outreach. If you're interested, I welcome you three to stay with us for a couple days and get a feel for our life here."

"We'd love to," Rose answered.

"Larry!" Max called out.

A young man approached and Max gave him instructions.

The Doctor did likewise, quietly. "Rose, we still don't know what they're planning or what he's doing with the regulator. Why don't you do some digging? And ask others about the father."

"Sure."

Max finished his conversation and addressed the Doctor and his companions.

"Larry will show you your rooms."

"Excellent," the Doctor answered. "He can tell Rose all we need to know. Mickey and I will go collect our bags."

Larry showed Rose three rooms where she, Mickey, and the Doctor could stay. Later, while still waiting for the Doctor and Mickey, Rose walked around and chatted briefly with others. She noticed another young man and approached him.

"Louis?" Rose asked.

The man turned around. "Sorry, you're mistaken. I'm Will."

"Oh, sorry. You look a lot like a boy who used to live near our flat in London."

"Couldn't be me, then," Will said. "I've never been to London. I think Max has. I've heard him talking about London and some place called Canary Wharf."

"My mistake. I haven't seen him in over twelve years. I thought he grew into you." Rose then noticed the Doctor and Mickey. She took a couple bags and showed the Doctor and Mickey their rooms.

"Did you talk to anyone?" the Doctor asked in Rose's room with Mickey.

"I've found nothing," Rose replied. "They're just living normal lives here. They aren't worshipping anyone or doing anything strange."

"What about the father?" the Doctor asked.

"No one knows anything. They were just told that their work for the father will advance humanity. Most of them think he's just an idea, not a real person."

"But don't these young men and women have lives to get back to?" the Doctor asked.

"The people I talked to didn't seem to care," Rose responded.

"Maybe they're just taking a break," suggested Mickey.

"We still need to find out why they have a biological flux regulator," the Doctor said.

The three heard a clock chime loudly.

"Dinner time," Mickey said.

"Everyone's supposed to be there," Rose noted, looking at the Doctor.

"A perfect time to do some investigating. You'll make an excuse for me?"

"Sure," Mickey said.

Rose and Mickey entered a large room. Max noticed them and approached.

"I hope you like pasta."

"Yes, definitely," Rose answered.

"Where's the Doctor?"

"He's fixing our ride," Mickey answered. "When we went back earlier today, we meant to drive up to the building, but we got a flat tire. Anyway, the Doctor didn't want to leave it out on the road for too long, so he's gone to fix it."

"His loss," Max replied. He ushered everyone to take their seats as butlers served unflavored vegan dishes.

Elsewhere, the Doctor was in a basement, scanning for alien technology. He slowly approached a room from which he heard intermittent beeping and opened the door. He saw an old man lying in bed.

"Do I know you?" the old man asked.

"That depends. What's your name?"

"Max Weaver."

"What?" the Doctor asked.

Max began to breathe heavily and an alarm went off.

Two doctors rushed in to examine Max while the Doctor tried to ease away.

"He's gone," a doctor said.

"Who are you?" the other doctor asked, noticing the Doctor. "Neil! We need you!"

Dinner continued two levels above, with Mickey looking around the room.

"That's Louie Burke, that kid by your flat," Mickey noticed.

"It's not Louis. He says his name is Will. I talked with him."

"That has to be Louie."

"It's 2018, Mickey. Louis probably doesn't look anything like he used to."

"Maybe he was right." Mickey quietly remarked.

"Who was right?"

Neil suddenly barged in, followed by the Doctor and Leah Finn, one of Max's doctors. Silence filled the room.

"What's going on?" Max asked.

"He was in subfloor 2," Leah answered as Mickey got up. "No permission, no excuse."

"Did he see anything?" Max asked.

Mickey approached the Doctor.

"Yes," Leah responded. "He saw . . . the last breaths."

"I knew I couldn't trust you," Mickey suddenly said. He punched the Doctor across the face.


	2. Bloodlines

**Weaver's Sons**

_Chapter 2: Bloodlines_

"I knew you were going to be trouble!" Mickey yelled at the Doctor, forcing him up by his shirt.

"What is this?" Max asked.

Two more men entered the hall.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, running up to the Doctor and Mickey.

"She's with him, too," Mickey said. "They told me about a place to start over in America, but I could tell they were hiding something. Then, I overheard them whispering about the basement."

"Mickey," Rose said, confused.

"And who are you?" Neil asked.

Mickey looked at Rose. "My name's Mickey. Her mother looked after me after my parents died, but Rose never liked me."

"Take them to subfloor 1," Max ordered.

Neil, Leah, and the two men took the Doctor and Rose away. Rose attempted to protest until the Doctor took her hand and mouthed 'No.'

Max looked at Mickey. "Come with me."

The Doctor and Rose sat on a futon in a den with no windows. They knew that someone was watching the door on the other side.

Rose slid close to the Doctor. "When did you think of this plan?" she whispered.

"It was a contingency I prepared when Mickey and I were getting bags. It was just a precaution in case something went wrong, though I didn't think he'd do it this early after I got caught."

"There was a boy we saw," Rose said. "Mickey was sure that he was one of my neighbors, but the boy told me that he was someone else."

"They're under mind control," the Doctor concluded. "That's why no one here cares about their lives outside of Empire Eternal. He's manipulated their memories and thoughts."

"But Doctor, won't they still be suspicious of Mickey?"

"Probably, but at least he's not here with us. Plus, they'll probably control his mind enough to make him forget his past, but not enough to get him to reveal everything."

In another part of the building, Max interrogated Mickey.

"So why have you come to us?" Max asked after Mickey denounced the Doctor and Rose.

"Like I said, I wanted a new life, a fresh start. The way the Doctor and Rose were talking about this place, I thought I'd like it here."

"As I've said, this can be your new life, your fresh start."

"I know that now."

"Will you join us?"

"I'd love to."

"Then close your eyes think about your parents for me. Now, think about your friends," Max said as he grabbed a small mechanical device with a screen. "Open your eyes, and look at this."

Later in subfloor 1, the Doctor and could hear heavy footsteps approaching.

Max opened the door. "What are you doing here?" Max asked.

"You put us in this room," the Doctor answered.

"You know that's not what I mean."

"I detected life signs that were inconsistent with the readings of a normal human being."

"And how did you know that?"

A look of surprise quickly swept through the Doctor's face before he covered it. However, Max still noticed.

"You didn't know that," Max realized. "What are you really doing here?"

Rose and Max's eyes were fixed on the Doctor's face, waiting for a response.

"You obviously haven't clued your friend on this," Max said.

"No, so perhaps you should leave us so I can consider all the implications of being unhelpful and then discuss my plans with Rose."

Max looked at the Doctor and Rose before leaving.

"He's listening in somehow," Rose whispered.

"That's all right. I don't have a plan, anyway," the Doctor said, smiling.

Rose smiled back.

"So, Rose, tell me about everyone you've ever met in your life."

The Doctor and Rose spent the next few hours detailing Rose's background until it was clear that night had fallen.

"Now what?" Rose asked.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from a sock. "We find Mickey." The Doctor broke out of the room with Rose and eventually found Mickey with the sonic screwdriver after sneaking around the halls.

They found Mickey asleep in a private room. Mickey began to stir, but the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to slow him down. He pulled out a vial. "Pour this into his mouth slowly," he told Rose.

Rose obliged and the two waited for Mickey to wake up.

"How are you feeling?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm fine, Doctor," Mickey answered.

"How strong was the mind control?"

"It was strong. I don't think I could have fought it if I tried. The thing is, I didn't want to. Anyway, I'm fine now."

"Good," the Doctor responded. "Do you know if everyone is asleep?"

"They should be."

"Come on, then. I want to take a closer look at subfloor 2."

The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey quietly and quickly snuck to subfloor 2, cautious of anyone who could be awake and present.

"We still don't know what they're doing with that biological regulator," Rose said.

"No, but I'm equally concerned about meeting the older Max and watching him die," the Doctor said. "I don't know if I will need to preserve the web of time and take the living Max into the past at some point."

"That's one way to rid his influence here," Mickey suggested.

The three arrived in the room where the Doctor saw the older Max die. Mickey went to a computer nearby the bed while the Doctor and Rose looked around.

"His medical charts are here," Mickey said. "There are also records of treatment with youth restoration."

The last part caught the Doctor's attention. He ran to the computer.

"Is that what they call the regulator?" Rose asked.

The Doctor perused through the medical charts on the computer. "They were absorbing life energy from the cult members and transferring it to Max."

The Doctor began scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver. Upon picking up a reading, he walked to another room to a large freezer. He opened it and saw the old Max's body.

Rose gasped and Mickey frowned at the sight.

"How could they do that to a body?" Rose asked as the Doctor continued scanning.

"The transfer only helped a little," the Doctor said. "Hold on, there's no evidence of temporal markers in him. He's never travelled in time."

Mickey looked around another freezer-like apparatus, one that looked more technologically complex.

"Then there are two Max Weavers," Rose realized.

"I need to take a closer look here," the Doctor said. He handed his sonic screwdriver to Rose. "Would you mind pointing that where I ask?"

"Isaac thought he saw twins, but how do you explain the age difference, Doctor?" asked Mickey. "Who is he?" He then opened the second chamber and saw the body of another man in stasis.

"A clone," a voice said, drawing the attention of the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey.

"Max . . . 1?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, I'm the first, the original."

"Are you pioneering human cloning?" the Doctor asked. "With the resources that humanity has, it won't work well. Then again, you do have technology that no one else."

"No, you're right. Clones age too quickly, and that makes them perfect subjects for my work. Now, Mickey, please step away from that chamber."

"Why? What's in it? Another clone?" Rose asked.

"No, it's someone else," Mickey said.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked. "What experiments are you running?"

"That's my father," Max answered. "Fred."

The Doctor approached Max's father. "You're trying to restore his life," the Doctor concluded.

"Yes, do you find fault with my goal? Either of you?"

"You're taking the lives of other people," the Doctor stated. "Innocent people."

"Only minimally," Max replied. "I take the little extra energy they produce when they are physically active. I am giving them good lives here and they aren't harmed by what I do."

"You've taken over their minds," Mickey said.

"Only until I fix my father. After that, I will give their lives back to them."

"So you're just borrowing them, is that it?" Rose questioned from behind Mickey and the chamber. "I know how you feel, but you can't do this. My neighbor doesn't even know who he is anymore." While gesturing with an arm, Rose pushed a button on the sonic screwdriver, activating a system within the chamber holding Fred.

"No! You've cut the feed!" Max took out the biological flux regulator. "I could set this to be harmful. I could use it and suck all the life energies out of the three of you now."

The Doctor quickly took back the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the regulator, which began to vibrate.

"Or," the Doctor began, "I could realign the conversion parameters to make it more efficient, let you require a lot less energy."

"You're doing this? Stop messing with it or I will use it on you!"

"Then use it," the Doctor said, approaching Max.

"Are you insane?"

"No, and neither are you," the Doctor said. "On some level, you know this is wrong." The Doctor put a hand on the regulator and pressed it.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" Rose cried.

The Doctor was engulfed in a field of light. "What do your readings tell you, Max?"

"That it's approaching capacity," Max answered.

The Doctor switched off the regulator.

"How did you do that?"

"Call it a combination of a different life force and some work I did to that."

"If my previous efforts were not completely successful on the clones, I will not risk a chance with my father."

"I reckon you don't have much time," the Doctor responded.

"There's one way to find out," Rose said.

"Where did you get all this technology, anyway?" the Doctor asked.

"There was a battle about a dozen years ago in eastern London. One of my brothers scavenged some of the remains before authorities got there." Max opened a piece of the regulator and stuck one end of a needle into it. He proceeded to stick the other end of the needle into his father's neck.

Max watched with the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey as Fred started looking younger. Max smiled as decades seemed to vanish from Fred's face, but then a look of concern appeared as Fred took the form of a smaller teenager. He didn't notice a glowing silhouette of Fred's former form, though the Doctor, Mickey, and Rose did. They started to back away.

"He's not stopping," Max realized.

A burst of energy knocked Max to the ground.

"What was that?" Rose asked.

"All that mass had to go somewhere," the Doctor said. He approached Max and saw that Max was dead, his face was burned beyond recognition.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Mickey asked the Doctor.

"No, I thought I recognized this regulator model, but I could have been wrong. Max mentioned a battle in London. Maybe the regulator was damaged."

"Doctor?" Rose asked. "Max's father stopped changing."

The three saw that Fred had become an infant.

"What do we do with him?" Rose asked.

"Hold him for now," the Doctor said. He went behind the chamber and grabbed a small box, the same one that Max held to Mickey's face. He rearranged some of the settings on the box and put it in his pocket. He then entered a few rooms, apparently searching for something and ultimately reappeared, rolling a tank filled with a clear liquid. "Mickey, take that chamber. We need to take everything back to the TARDIS now. I've disabled the mind control. Everyone here will wake up in the morning back to normal again. We don't want to be here, and we don't want the technology here."

The Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS and then to the planet Embulecma.

"This is a human colony in the year 6427," the Doctor explained as he guided his companions to a hospital. "They'll be able to take care of Fred."

Rose handed Fred over to a pediatrician that the Doctor personally knew and the three waited until he reappeared.

"I've examined Fred completely," Logue Nakano said. "I am confident that he will grow up normally and be fine."

"Thank you, doctor."

"Anytime, Doctor."

"Come on," the Doctor told Rose and Mickey. "Back to the TARDIS."

"Max got what he wanted after all," Rose commented.

"Yeah," the Doctor simply stated.

"What are you going to do with all the tech?" Mickey asked.

"The regulator is useless now. I've broken the mind control cube. I'll dump the clone tank, shouldn't leave that lying around. Maybe I'll find a use for the stasis chamber some day. If I can recalibrate it sufficiently well, it could be used for healing."

"Always trying to make things better, aren't you?" Rose asked.

The Doctor smiled. "So, where do you want to go next?"

...

The end. Thank you for reading.


End file.
